Marikana inspection continues

2012-10-02 09:49

(Picture: Supplied)

Marikana - Parties involved in the inquiry into the shooting at the Lonmin platinum mine arrived at the crossroads between the mine and the Nkaneng informal settlement on Tuesday.

The entrance to the informal settlement, in the Wonderkop area, was enclosed by a barbed wire fence, erected after the August 16 shooting.

Residents sat in the morning sun and goats roamed about as the commission, advocates, lawyers, and journalists gathered for the second day of an in loco inspection.

The commission, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, would inspect the informal settlement, the mineworkers' hostels, the formal settlement, and the mine shafts.

Parties involved in the inquiry would also be given the opportunity to point out areas of importance.

Thirty-four miners were killed and 78 wounded when police opened fire on them while trying to disperse protesters near Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana on August 16.

Some reports since the event have indicated that several miners were shot dead among rocks a distance from where the police clashed with main group of striking workers.

On Monday, the commission inspected the big and small hill where the mineworkers had assembled in the days before the shooting.

Crime scene experts pointed out where the dead miners, bullet casings, and blood were found.

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- SAPA